Blessed: The Pure In Heart - Matthew 5:1-2, 8
As Jesus has turned our world upside
down, have you been feeling blessed or challenged during our sermon series so
far? I have to admit that I have felt
challenged quite a bit as I have worked on the sermons. Remember, as Jesus
offered this message, it was not him telling people about being happy...too be
declared blessed was to be declared privileged, well-off, or fortunate. That if
the criteria Jesus mentions applies to you, you stand in a privileged status
with God.
Those who are poor in spirit, having
completely founded their identity in God instead of their accomplishments and
their stuff, are privileged to find themselves already members of God's
Kingdom.
Those mourn the condition of the world
are well-off because they will find themselves comforted as God acts and wipes
away their tears making everything right.
The meek are fortunate because as they
pattern themselves after Jesus because they receive the promise that they will
be citizens of the New Jerusalem.
Those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness are blessed to know that as they work for building the kingdom of
God, God will bring fruition to their efforts.
Those who are merciful are privilege
because they know that the same mercy they show offers, God will bestow upon
them.
Today, we may find that Jesus lays
down his greatest challenge, as He says, "Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
What does it mean for us to have a
pure heart? Does it mean that our mind
has to be free from any impure thought?
Do we have to be better than Jimmy Carter, who infamously confessed,
that while he had not committed the physical act of adultery, that he had
sinned, for, "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many
times." Do we have to better this to be able to plan on seeing God one
day? Has our former president put
himself in the position in this admission of letting the world know that he
will never have an audience with God? I
certainly hope not. I hope this blessing
means something more than whether or not any of us have ever had an impure
thought, because if that's the case many of us, or better yet, all of us, will never stand in the presence of God.
"What do you mean, Preacher? I've never lusted after any woman that wasn't
my wife, or any man who want my husband. I don't have any kind of nasty
fantasies." That may be the case,
my brothers and sisters, but we have to realize that impure thoughts are more
than about sex. Impure thoughts are any thoughts out of sync with God. Have you
ever thought about killing someone, have you ever hated someone, have you ever
thought about some gossip you heard, have you ever thought about stealing, have
you ever thought about lying? Impure thoughts are impure thought. So, with this
in mind who’s going to see God? Like I
said, though, aren't glad that this must mean something more?
When Jesus was talking about the pure
in heart, He was echoing the Psalmist who wrote: “Who shall ascend the hill of
the Lord? And who shall stand in this
holy place? Those who have clean hands
and pure hearts…”[i]
and “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an
undivided heart to revere your name.”[ii] My brothers and sisters, Jesus isn’t simply
talking about whether or not we have had an impure thought or not, but whether
or not our hearts have been completely given over to God. A pure heart is a heart that worships God
alone.
The theme of a pure heart that is
given completely and solely to God is echoed throughout the teaching of Jesus:
“Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and
steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there you heart
will be also.”[iii]
“No one can serve two masters; for a
slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and
espies the other. You cannot serve God
and wealth.”[iv]
“The kingdom of heaven is like
treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he
goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went
and sold all that he had and bought it.”[v]
“Teacher, which commandment in the law
is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You
should love the Lord your God with all your hear, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind.’”[vi]
“To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But
he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him,
‘Let the dead bury their own dead…Another said, I will follow you, Lord; but
let first say farewell to those at my home.’
Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is
fit for the kingdom of God.’”[vii]
“But Martha was distracted by her many
tasks; so she came to [Jesus] and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sisters
has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the
Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
there is need of only ONE thing. Mary
has chosen the better part, which will not be taken from her.’”[viii]
Jesus makes it perfectly clear, our
focus, if we are to call ourselves followers of Christ, has to be God. To have a pure heart is to have a heart that
is set and focused upon God before anything else. To try and divide our hearts up any other
way, means that we have a broken or divided heart. And honestly, many of us suffer from divided
hearts…
For some of us that focus may be like
the rich young ruler Jesus encountered…it may be on our wealth or our
jobs. We allow our jobs, careers, or
bank accounts. How does this
happen? I think of a conversation I had
with a member of one of a congregation back East. If I have shared this with you before, please
forgive me. This gentleman had not been
in church since I had been pastor, but ended up in the hospital and I visited
with him many times. The reason he had
not been in church is he ran the local mini-mart. One day our conversation drifted to his lack
of attendance in church and the store.
He said, “You know, I could close the store for a couple of hours on
Sunday morning so I could attend church, but I might lose customers.” Maybe it is not being away from church but
compromising our beliefs in order to increase our profits, such as selling
goods that we know are overpriced or items that lead people to lives
contradictory to the Word of God. Hearts
divided…
In Luke, Jesus tackles what may be one
of the hardest things we have to face that we try to worship alongside God, our
families and friends. Often, we allow
family and friends to interfere with our devotion to God. Now, I am not talking about an emergency
hospitalization, or having to help a loved one in their recovery from illness
or surgery—taking care of them is ministry in and of itself. I’ll put it to you this way, if I had $100
for every time one of the following statements was used over the 18 years I
have been in ministry, we could start building a family life center or remodel
the narthex of the church. Here they
are: “Preacher, I wasn’t at church today
because a friend I hadn’t seen in twenty years was passing through town and it
was the only time we could spend together;” “Preacher, I won’t be in worship because my
parents/children/grandchildren/aunt/uncle/4th cousin twice removed
are visiting, and they don’t go to church,” or, better yet, “they don’t have
anything to wear to church.” (Of course
my response to that is unless they are walking around your house naked, then
they have something to wear to church.)
Or, “Preacher, I can’t come to church because my family is in town, and
I have to prepare lunch for them.”
Hearts divided…
However, the most common thing we find
ourselves worshipping other than God is what we see looking in the mirror. Ourselves…
Have we ever heard someone say…actually, let’s be honest, have we ever
said ourselves, even simply in our minds, “I didn’t get anything out of worship
today;” or “I’m not staying for worship today because I don’t like the music
being played or the fact we’re having communion again;” or “I’m not helping
with children’s ministry because my kids are all grown;” or “I’m not going to
church today because I had to work all week and I’m tired, I just want to sleep
in;” or “If they are not going to do things my way, then I’m not going to
support the ministry.” We could go on
and on, but how many times do we factor what we do for God not based on what
God is calling us to do, not based on what is happening in God’s church, but
simply based on “how much each of us likes it.” Hearts divided…
Jesus calls us to have hearts that are
pure…that are focused on God…not on money, not on friends and family, not on
ourselves, not on anything but God…and those who have pure hearts, are promised
to see God.
“But preacher, I thought all I had to
do was accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I would be going to
heaven, and if I go to heaven, then I get to see God, right.” Well…right…if we surrender to Jesus Christ as
our Lord and Savior, we will see God…and many of us have the Savior thing down
pat. We know we can’t save ourselves, we
know that we are sinners saved by the Grace of God found in Jesus Christ…but we
struggle with that “Lord” part of “Lord and Savior…”to surrender to Jesus
Christ as Lord means putting Him first and foremost in our lives…that our
relationship with Him and living the way He calls us to live is more important
than anything else…it is loving God with all our hearts and souls and minds…it
is living with a heart purely focused upon Christ alone.
The Good News is, my brothers and
sisters, that if we realize today that our hearts have been broken…our hearts
have been divided…our hearts have been impure…God offers His grace to us, right
now, today…He is the ultimate heart surgeon…He will pour his grace in and
create in us a clean heart, a pure heart, if we simply surrender our hearts to
Him…and then we will find ourselves Blessed…knowing that we will one day see
Him face to face.”
In the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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